Wednesday 21 April 2021

How to Qualify B2B Leads with BANT Sales Methodology

 With B2B lead generation services, one can develop a healthy sales pipeline and grow their business. BANT is one of the best lead qualification processes even after all these years.

B2B lead generation is known to be a godfather in B2B marketing.

In a B2B enterprise, we often encounter prospects in search of ‘ready to buy’ leads. Most often, these are termed as sales qualified leads (SQL) or qualified leads. Each lead has a different angle to understand and takes effort to convert them into qualified leads; however, most B2B enterprises get them using the BANT methodology to define qualification criteria.



Did you know?

·         A recruiter takes about 90 seconds to decide if a candidate is worth for an organization

·         A human being takes about 400 seconds to fall asleep

If sales representatives (sales rep) could close deals at such a rapid pace, then a quote (like above) would have also been made on those sales reps to give them glory and inspire similar others in the trade.

Unfortunately, closing a deal is a time-consuming process. But there is one thing you could do to improve this: ‘separating bad apples from the good ones’ in your sales pipeline. And that is what lead qualification delivers. It helps the sales team to focus on good leads by filtering out the low-quality leads.

There are so many options available to qualify a lead, but we will focus on one of the oldest sales qualification methods out there – BANT. After all, old is gold!

About BANT qualified leads

What is BANT?

BANT is a sales qualification methodology that allows salespeople to find a qualified lead in the form of its four primary elements – Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. A lead is thought worthy if it meets at least three of the four BANT criteria. IBM introduced this sales acronym.

When it was first launched, it was an instant favorite among salespeople for many reasons:

·         Saved time in filtering out low-quality leads from good ones

·         Offered appropriate framework to qualify leads

·         It increased efficacy by concentrating on leads that were most likely to be closed

Here is an example of BANT qualified leads:

Sales rep – Do you have a planned budget to accommodate us?

Lead – Yes, of course, budget is not an issue.

Sales rep – Well, that’s good then. Are you the one who will be using the product?

Lead – No, I am not the one. My sales team will be using it.

Sales rep – You need our product because you are facing major issues with lead generation?

Lead – Yes, you are right.

Sales rep – By when you need the solution in place?

Lead – Uhhhh….how about two weeks?

Sales rep – Well…that works.

Perfect. There it is, a qualified lead!

BANT in the modern era

There is a twist, as budget is no longer a center point. What really matters are the prospects’ needs. It is not regarding affordability, but it is regarding return on investment (ROI). However, Need is one of the most important elements in BANT.

Why so?

David Ogilvy says: “Customers don’t buy products. They buy benefits.”

How to use BANT to qualify leads in 2021?

1.      Do not see budget as a blocker.

2.      Find out who is involved in the decision-making process.

3.      Find out the importance of the prospect’s problem.

4.      Map out how rapidly their firm moves toward a solution.

Following are the B2B demand generation services:

1.      Demand generation services

2.      Account-based marketing services

3.      High quality leads (HQL) services

4.      Persona based marketing (PBM) services

About account-based marketing services

The BANT is still relevant, but B2B business models have evolved and accepted the retro model for 2020, i.e., account based marketing (ABM) to deal with high-level individual contacts in large organizations. An account based marketing service provider company will help one find target accounts that best suits products and services.




ABM helps the sales and marketing teams to concentrate on accounts that are most likely to generate and convert sales opportunities. It is a tactical approach to lead generation.

As we all know, ABM needs a unique approach and narrow focus for each account; it is one of the great examples of customizedB2B marketing solutions.

Final verdict

It is necessary to give a modern touch to BANT to fit into the current sales process, which depends on the salesperson’s ability, i.e., to continuously adapt and innovate to the latest trends.

 customizedB2B marketing solutions